W.W. Law and Waddie Welcome: Two men who made a difference

Karisma Brantley, 6, and Kirsten Brantley, 13, stood in line to have artist Benny Andrews sign copies of "Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights."

Karisma started reading the book in front of Kathy Haskins, widow of author Jim Haskins, who wrote more than 100 books.

Kirsten prompted on the hard words. She knew Law's story.

"He was a postman who worked for civil rights," Kirsten said.

She has visited the Civil Rights Museum and has stood at the re-created lunch counter where customer service depended on skin color.

Friday she stood in the SCAD Jen Library on Broughton Street, near where the original counter would have been when the building was Levy's Department Store.

Velma McKenzie-Orr, executive director of the W.W. Law Foundation, said people took action with a boycott "after their children were arrested for trying to get a meal. We've come full circle to have a book signing in that location."

Andrews said that, while he enjoys having his art exhibited in many museums, "Children's books reach a much wider audience."

Janice Shay, director of SCAD's Design Press, said the New York Public Library recently chose "Delivering Justice" as one of the 100 Children's Titles for Reading and Sharing.

Shay said the Press plans the next book to be about Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a nonviolent leader of the national civil rights movement.

Law, who died in 2002, has a page in another book that pays tribute to another movement: disability rights.

"Waddie Welcome & the Beloved Community" recognizes a man who helped many see past the physical limitations of cerebral palsy and rescue him from institutional life.

Both W.W.s, - W.W. Law and Waddie Welcome - spent significant time in the Cuyler-Brownville community, which is undergoing a resurgence.

The book about Welcome just received a 2005 Image Award from TASH, an international organization advocating independence and inclusion in society for people with disabilities.

First awarded in 2001, Image Award winners have included the book "Riding the Bus with my Sister" by Rachel Simon, made into a TV film starring Rosie O'Donnell; the documentary "Graduating Peter" produced by Geraldine Wurzburg; and "Sesame Street."

Law and Welcome influenced innumerable lives. Spending time with them would make you evaluate your actions and priorities.

Law would walk to the downtown newspaper office several times a week. He would regularly take us to task if he disagreed with the way we chose or wrote a story.

Both could be demanding. They represented issues that make us uncomfortable because we don't know how to talk about them. It's work to make things better.

Both showed how one person can make a difference when a community rallies around him.